With a focus on Christian and church ministry, this paper reviews the literature on faith formation/development and spirituality and presents research findings on how to support the faith of children and young people. First, the development of faith is considered in children and young people, by listening to those who minister amongst them. The findings show that whilst some ministry workers hold to a more conservative pedagogy which perceives that faith needs to be taught in a top-down manner, others espouse a more bottom-up approach whereby faith is discovered within a church or home environment.Subsequently, the paper considers how faith grows in children and young people by listening to their perspective through three focus groups. This revealed that there are key marker points in Church life which enable their faith to grow and that there are recognisable lifestyle practices that encourage their faith development. They valued intergenerational Church culture which includes them, and the rite of baptism as being a point of commitment to their committed faith. They also showed appreciation of festivals and camps, age-related groups and online engagement as they learn how to read the Bible.Theological reflection is then offered.
Worsley et al. (Sun,) studied this question.